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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Australia, a video showing the peaceful commemoration of a Muslim holy day in Melbourne has been manipulated and is being shared online by the far-right to falsely imply that immigrants are chanting “we are awaiting orders”, meanwhile in the United States, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has shared on his X account a collection of anti-Muslim and anti-Immigrant posts he’s been increasingly subject to, and in the United Kingdom, a piece in Counterfire reveals that the organizers of the anti-refugee protests across the country are veteran leaders of Nazi and other far-right groups. Our recommended read of the day is by Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service on how this year’s National Conservatism Conference’s “negative focus on Islam makes for a potential preview of what conservatives will be concerned with in the next year.” This and more below:
United States
At NatCon, a confusing resurgence of anti-Muslim sentiment | Recommended Read
During a breakout session at this year’s National Conservatism Conference on Wednesday (Sept. 3), one group of panelists was asked an unusual question: Did they consider the U.S. to be a “Protestant tree” in which “Jews and Catholics are allowed, as birds, to nest in the branches”? Josh Hammer, the only Jewish member of the panel, eschewed the arborial analogy but replied that he believes Jews and Catholics “have always been a part of the American story.” A “more interesting question,” he offered, is what Founding Fathers had to say about “Mohammedism” — a reference to Islam. Fellow panelist William Wolfe, head of the Center for Baptist Leadership and a self-described Christian nationalist, interjected: “I’m happy to cut that branch off, Josh.” The crowd burst into laughter. The episode was one of several derogatory mentions of Islam at the conference, a three-day convening at a hotel in downtown Washington. Once considered a far-right fringe gathering and still deeply associated with Christian nationalism, NatCon, as it’s known among its regular attendees, has become a major waypoint in the conservative calendar. The ideas germinated here increasingly shape the ideological framework of the Trump administration, as speakers at past conferences have gone on to become MAGA stars, including Vice President JD Vance. This year’s lineup had no lack of administration officials, from Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to border czar Tom Homan. NatCon’s negative focus on Islam, therefore, makes for a potential preview of what conservatives will be concerned with in the next year, especially in midterm election campaigns. Already, New York’s mayoral election in November has attracted dire predictions in conservative circles about the front-runner, Zohran Mamdani, and his Muslim faith, should he win. read the complete article
We Knew The Racism Against This Zohran Mamdani Would Get Weird — And Here We Are
Any Muslim American who runs for public office knows one thing immediately: the scrutiny will be ugly, and it will come to fruition quickly. Islamophobia is never subtle. And the moment Democratic nominee for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani stepped into the spotlight, I knew he would be a target for some pretty traditional racism — and some weird stuff none of us could’ve seen coming. One recent post on X perfectly captures the sheer absurdity of the Islamophobia he navigates on a daily basis. It started when an X user posted a photo of bacon frying with the caption, “Just wanting to share some bacon with all of my loveable [sic] Muslim peeps this morning. It’s the least I can do.” Another user then decided to rope Mamdani in, quoting the post with, “Hey @ZohranMamdani, this is for you, Bone-Petite! [again, sic].” This clownish post was only further punctuated by bad spelling. Mamdani gets plenty of hate — from bigoted conservatives who despise him for being Muslim and from within the Democratic Party, where his socialist politics have made him an easy target. So he doesn’t respond to everything. But this particular exchange clearly stood out to him, probably for the same reason it stopped the rest of us. It was unbelievably stupid. When you’re an American public figure who happens to be Muslim, your religion — and the “otherness” assigned to it — becomes your entire identity. And in the Western imagination, that religion is automatically framed as a threat. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Union Jack flags put up by mosque not protesters
Union Jack flags hanging on a partially-built mosque were put up by the Islamic centre which owns the building and not as an act of protest. A video posted on Facebook congratulated whoever "did this to the mosque" in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria and attracted hundreds of comments expressing anti-Muslim sentiment. But the South Lakes Islamic Centre, which is behind the building's construction, said it had displayed the flags itself, to symbolise "our shared belonging". Earlier this year, police patrols were stepped up in the area, following a rise in online abuse directed against the new building, with protests also taking place. The centre said flying the flag was "not about politics or culture wars". A spokesperson said: "It reflects who we are, a British mosque rooted in Cumbria, proud of our home and the community we serve. "The flag symbolises our shared belonging and our commitment to building unity, friendship, and a home for all." read the complete article
The shocking social media activity of a Reform UK employee
While Reform UK wants to present itself as a respectable party, HOPE not hate can reveal that one of its staffers has promoted extreme far-right figures and racist views on social media. “We are going to professionalise the party,” pledged Reform UK leader Nigel Farage after last July’s general election, in which his party stood racist, anti-Muslim and antisemitic candidates. “Those few ‘bad apples’ that have crept in will be gone, will be long gone and we will never have any of their type back in our organisation. You have a 100 percent promise on that.” Alas, since then, numerous so-called “bad apples” have been selected as Reform candidates and some have been given senior positions in the party. Marking another blow to Farage’s promise, HOPE not hate can reveal that Reform’s recently-appointed “donor manager”, James Catton, has a shocking history of promoting extreme and racist content on social media. In YouTube comments, Catton has said “we need to deport 10m people” and declared: “These illegals and unassimilated legals have two options: 1. Accept the one way ticket we give them back to something-istan. 2. Cannot be written in YouTube comments.” And that’s not the worst of it. On X (formerly Twitter), Catton has shared a number of posts endorsing “remigration” (a far-right concept of ethnic cleansing, involving the deportation of migrants and/or non-white citizens) and promoted content from a variety of far-right extremists. read the complete article
The fascist thugs behind the ‘local’ protests
The organisers of the anti-refugee actions are veteran leaders of Nazi and far-right organisations, reports Chris Nineham. This summer’s protests outside refugee hotels have been reported as local events and have sometimes drawn large crowds, but they have been organised by national, fascist hate groups. The first big protests at the Bell Hotel in Epping in July were no exception. The administrators of the ‘Epping Says No’ Facebook group which co-ordinated the protests are members of the Nazi Homeland party. One of them, Callum Barker, is a hardened neo-Nazi who helped to establish Combat 18 as the street-fighting security detail of the Nazi British National Party in the 1990s. He has posted images that reference the code ‘1488’ which refers to Hitler and the phrase, ‘We must secure a future for the white race and also for white children.’ From Bristol to Stockport and the Isle of Dogs in London to Falkirk in Scotland, a similar pattern is being reported of an organised hard right or fascist core pulling around them groups of angry local people who are being drawn towards dead-end but very dangerous racist ideas. This is being enabled by mainstream politicians and the media who are daily pumping out lies and distortions about the situation. There is much to be done, but one central task is to expose the extreme racists and fascists at the core of these protests. read the complete article
International
With Door to U.N. Slammed Shut, Palestinians Urge U.S. to Drop Visa Ban
After a bullet was fired at Donald J. Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July last year, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority sent him a letter denouncing the violence. Mr. Trump posted his ebullient response on social media: “Mahmoud — So nice — Thank you — Everything will be good.” But little is good between Palestinian officials and the Trump administration. Last week, the United States, a staunch supporter of Israel, blocked U.S. visas for Mr. Abbas and his staff, preventing them from attending the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly later this month. Several countries, including France and Canada, plan to use the occasion of the assembly to declare their recognition of a Palestinian state, and a conference focused on recognition of Palestinian statehood is scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the gathering. Recognition of a Palestinian state does not mean that one is closer to being established. But the move by these countries carries significant symbolic weight as Israel finds itself ever more isolated internationally over the war in Gaza, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. For Mr. Abbas, the conference would have been an opportunity to revel in the moment on an international stage. Now, he is launching a diplomatic blitz to try and reverse the American decision to bar him. read the complete article
Weaponizing Antisemitism to Advance Authoritarianism with Lara Friedman and Yousef Munayyer
Political commentators and rights advocates Lara Friedman and Yousef Munayyer discuss ongoing efforts to suppress criticism of the Israeli government’s oppression of Palestinians under the guise of fighting antisemitism—efforts which are fueling authoritarianism and pushing shared safety further from grasp. Lara and Yousef lay out how the Israeli government and its supporters have championed a contentious definition of antisemitism in order to dismiss criticism of Israel and conflate said criticism with prejudice against Jews. They also explain how the increasingly fraught conversation about antisemitism is doing little to actually make Jews safer—and is being exploited to distract from Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, annexation of the West Bank, and expansionist war across the region. read the complete article
Australia
Posts misrepresent video of Muslim procession in Australia as 'immigrant invasion'
A video viewed tens of thousands of times on social media shows the peaceful commemoration of a Muslim holy day in Melbourne, contrary to claims from right-wing groups that it shows immigrants chanting "we are awaiting orders". The footage, which surfaced ahead of planned anti-immigration marches across Australia, previously circulated a month earlier in a post about the annual Ashura procession that local police and religious leaders said passed peacefully. read the complete article
Sovereign Citizens and Other Far-Right Extremists Pose a Far Greater Threat Than Muslim Teens
Australian law enforcement agencies have long targeted the Muslim community, conducting countless raids on homes of Muslim Australians over the years with little or no result, subjecting Muslims to high levels of monitoring and surveillance and, on occasion, pro-actively encouraging the radicalisation of Muslim youths with a view to entrapping and arresting them for offences they would likely never have committed had they not been encouraged by law enforcement agencies to do so. In one operation, over 800 specially trained officers conducted supposed ‘anti-terrorism raids’ on 25 homes across Sydney and Brisbane. The raids saw the heavily-armed officers pulling terrified women and children from their beds in the middle of the night, in what can only be described as ‘pre-emptive raids’ on dozens of innocent people of the Muslim faith. Only one person was charged out of those wholesale raids. Under this umbrella of immunity and diminished transparency, law enforcement agents have arrested Muslim youths for what can only be described as ‘thought crimes’, only to later release them with no criminal charges. But the situation with far-right extremists has long been very different. Such persons have long escaped the same level of monitoring, scrutiny and targeting as members of the Muslim community, despite report after report finding that such extremism poses a far greater threat than anything posed by the Muslim community. In fact, there are many examples of far-right extremists escaping charges altogether or being charged with only minor offences over acts which fall within the legal definition of terrorism. read the complete article
France
France’s attack on CCIE part of ongoing anti-Muslim repression
CAGE International stands in solidarity with Collective Against Islamophobia in Europe (CCIE), a Belgian based anti-Islamophobia, human rights organisation summoned for a hearing this week in France. CCIE leaders saw their homes being raided in May, two days after a march against Islamophobia organised in France following the murder of Muslim worshipper Aboubakar Cissé at a mosque by a 21-year-old French suspect. Together with a European partner organisation in France, CCIE leaders received a summons for a hearing scheduled for, today, 3 September 2025. The CCIE questioned the timing of the hearing given the government’s intention to soon relaunch a proposed law targeting so-called ‘Islamic entryism’. read the complete article
Canada
Police appeal for info after more anti-Muslim graffiti found along Ajax waterfront trail
Police are looking for information after more anti-Muslim graffiti was found on a bench along the waterfront trail in Ajax on Tuesday. Durham Regional Police said they were called to the area of Lakeview Boulevard and Poplar Avenue, where officers later discovered the graffiti. A similar hate-motivated graffiti was reported at the same location early last month, police said. “We recognize the impact these incidents can have on our community, particularly the Muslim community. Acts that target or instill fear in any group are unacceptable and are taken very seriously,” police said in a news release on Wednesday. read the complete article